Malagasy minister of education Rijasoa Andriamanana has ended up getting sacked after declaring her intent to purchase a massive amount of sweets to help students deal with the bitter taste of a certain local coronavirus remedy that was previously touted by the country's president.
Announcing the "purchase of sweets and lollipops" for a lump sum of $2.2 million to the press, Andriamanana said that each student would get three pieces of candy, apparently in order to help offset the "bitter taste" of the herbal tea called Covid-Organic which President Andry Rajoelina has been promoting for export as the country's "green gold" which will "change history".
The idea of spending so much money for buying candy to essentially help schoolchildren swallow a bitter pill apparently didn't seem a particularly good idea to the government, with the plan getting scrapped and the minister being relieved of her duties.
And as AFP points out, the potential benefits of Covid-Organics are yet to be validated by a scientific study.
